"I call them 'the truly [effed].'"

Here is a breezy, entertaining article about the 2009 New Bedford Moby-Dick marathon published in the Financial Times.  The author, one John O'Connor, seems to have attended the marathon more out of curiosity than anything else.  His interest in the text flagged within the first few hours, but he did manage to record some interesting conversations with attendees. 

Particularly memorable was this comment by Peter Whittemore, Melville's great-great-grandson:

[Whittemore said,] “There were issues Melville was thinking about in 1850 that I ponder today. This question of ‘Who am I?’ If you’re the kind of person who’s satisfied just knowing the Red Sox score, then God bless you, have a good life. But if the Red Sox score won’t do it for you, then there are lessons in Moby-Dick.”

Turning and scanning a throng of spellbound Melvillites, Whittemore bowed his knees slightly, as if preparing to spring into the air. “Like me, the Red Sox score won’t do it for these people,” he said. “I call them ‘the truly fucked.’”